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CFA NewsletterNo.57 June 2012 ISSN 1750-6417

Contents:

Association news

• A royal meeting• Members’ information• Stephen Midgley• Calling all photographers

Forest scenes

• Sustainable forestry at the crossroads in Australia

• Electronic newsletter on Climate Change and Forestry

• Preservation, sustainability or wise forest management

• Marcus Wallenberg Prize• News from Guyana• Criteria for good REDD+

activities

Publications

• Forest peoples: Numbers across the world

• Teak resource assessment

Review

• There’s honey in the forest and Uganda diaries

Around the World

CFA Newsletter

is the newsletter of the Common-

wealth Forestry Association

Editor: Alan Pottinger

Contact: The Crib, Dinchope, Craven

Arms, Shropshire SY7 9JJ, UK

Tel: + 44 (0) 1588 672868

Email: cfa@cfa-international.org

Web: www.cfa-international.org

The views expressed are not

necessarily those of the CFA.

A background to Rio+20 – the UN Conference on Sustainable Develop-ment

The UN Conference on Sustain-

able Development at Rio de

Janeiro in June 2012 comes

two decades after the UN

Conference on Environment and Devel-

opment in the same city in 1992 and four

decades after the fi rst such event, the UN

Conference on the Human Environment

at Stockholm in 1972. These mega-events

now with tens of thousands of highly

opinionated participants generate tre-

mendous heat in discussions and con-

sume vast amounts of forest products as

paper. Whether they are cost-effi cient is

always an open question, but I suggest

that they are cost-effective. That is, they

generate or accelerate forward momen-

tum in some aspects of the human condi-

tion or they provide extensive publicity

for developments which can be adapted

or adopted beyond the sites of origin,

both on a scale that the originators could

not generate by themselves.

There is of course tremendous com-

petition to get ideas and news onto the

agendas of these mega-events and into

the main background papers. At the time

of writing it is not certain which ideas

will be at the forefront at Rio de Janeiro

this year. So here I am mentioning some

of the notions which were fi rst broadly

Publication of the CFA Newsletter is supported by the Commonwealth Foundation

accepted at such events in the past

40 years and which are now part of

public discourse and practice in all but a

few repressive regimes.

It is only right to record that one of

the early products of the United Nations

was the universal declaration of human

rights (UDHR) in 1948, approved after

the atrocities of the second world war.

The UDHR established that there was a

globally acceptable forum for developing

and endorsing such globally applicable

principles. Stockholm 1972 introduced

the precautionary principle, that inade-

quacy of science-based knowledge could

not be an excuse for failing to take prior

measures against environmental damage

and degradation. 1972 was also the year

of publication of the Club of Rome’s

report ‘Limits to Growth’ which reminded

us that Earth could not sustain unlimited

exploitation of the resources of a small

planet using then-available technology.

The 1987 Montreal Protocol of the

Vienna Convention for the Protection of

the Ozone Layer was the treaty to phase

out the production and use of manufac-

tured halogenated hydrocarbons which

damaged the stratospheric ozone layer.

This layer is important in preventing

solar ultraviolet-B radiation from reach-

ing the earth’s surface and causing skin

cancers and damage to crops and marine

phytoplankton. The Montreal Protocol

has been successful because there are

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alternative chemicals for use as refrigerants, solvents and foam

blowing agents; because there were only a few manufacturers;

and because infractions were easy to pinpoint and penalize.

The relative simplicity of the Montreal Protocol, which has

been revised seven times as experience and knowledge have

improved, stimulated hope that other environmental problems

could be resolved. Increasing deforestation in the tropics and

forest recovery in temperate zones, summarized and increas-

ingly well publicised by FAO in the global forest resource

assessments, led to initial work by NGOs on standards for forest

certifi cation in the late 1980s. Certifi cation offered the prospect

of a market-linked mechanism which could reward good forest

stewardship, if not by a ‘green premium’ in price then at least by

offering more stable and long-term markets to producers.

In the mid-1980s, FAO, UN Development Programme and

the World Resources Institute launched the Tropical Forest

Action Plan (TFAP), an attempt to use more open and trans-

parent multi-stakeholder planning to bring forested tropical

countries into mainstream economic planning and forest man-

agement. Central planners in most countries were not enthused

about changes in whole government systems promoted by

reform–minded lumberjacks. The worthy aims of TFAP were

defeated by conservative politicians and civil servants who did

not relish public questioning or scrutiny. Inter-sectoral coordina-

tion and cooperation need higher-level political sponsorship

than a forest sector can usually secure on its own.

The UN Commission on Environment and Development (the

Brundtland Commission) pointed out the moral obligation to

provide for future generations while satisfying the needs of

the present, and noted the vast disparity in the ecological

footprint of the wealthy Northern countries compared with the

poverty-stricken Southern countries. The Bruntland report in

1987 publicised the reality that the geological accident of abun-

dant natural resources did not assure human development when

governance was weak; work from the early 1990s showed that

the ‘resource curse’ may apply to forest-rich countries as much

as to oil-rich countries.

The Earth Summit in 1992 was thus backed by 20 years

of warnings of increasing environmental over-exploitation but

some hope that problems were technically soluble. 150 partici-

pant governments agreed that biodiversity was important for

sustainable life and signed the Convention on Biological Diver-

sity (CBD) at Rio. The CBD was one of the supporting instru-

ments for Agenda’21, a compendium of possible activities to

provide for a more sustainable future and including a chapter

(number 11) on forests. In some countries, Agenda’21 has been

the most durable and relevant outcome from the Earth Summit,

with local planning for sustainable development being translat-

ed down to and implemented at village level. Not so in

all countries, notably in those where central government is

frightened of allowing decision-making by ordinary citizens.

Any idea that the Montreal Protocol might be adapted to

forest management was defeated at Rio by the insistence of

some countries on sovereignty over national forest resources

and their opposition to a Convention like the CBD. Instead, after

tortuous negotiations, we ended with the ‘Non-legally binding

authoritative statement of principles for a global consensus on

the management, conservation and sustainable development of

all types of forests’ (NLBF). The unmusical sound of this title is

an indication of the diffi culty of reconciling wildly different

points of view about global and national rights and responsi-

bilities for forest management. Three organizational structures

followed under the UN Commission on Sustainable Develop-

ment – the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests, the Intergovern-

mental Forum on Forests, and the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF).

The seventh session of UNFF delivered a further ‘Non-legally

Binding Instrument on All Types of Forests’ in December 2007.

One needs to be a strong optimist to see much sign of progress

between 1992 and 2007.

However, during these 15 years there have been extensive

studies of the causes of deforestation (conclusion? – local factors

are important as well as national levels of poverty and the infl u-

ence of globalised trade in forest products, as well as many

other factors). And perhaps most importantly the IPF/IFF/UNFF

process has secured a right for non-government organisations to

speak on their own account in plenary sessions and not as

members of national government delegations. That may not

sound like much but it is a fi rst in the status-conscious United

Nations system.

These international meetings of course come at a price.

Larger and richer countries can afford to send delegates to each

session, where inter-delegation relationships can be established

and productive partnerships developed. Smaller countries may

struggle to attend even some of the sessions, it is often diffi cult

to send the same person or persons each time, international

training in how to negotiate at international meetings is almost

non-existent, and travel sponsorship is precarious. It is not

surprising that some tropical country foresters feel more at home

in the International Tropical Timber Council where there is no

persistent NGO questioning about weak forest governance and

unsustainable logging and trade.

In addition and more recently, fl owing from the UN Frame-

work Convention on Climate Change, also a product of the

Earth Summit in 1992, the management of forest carbon offers a

new and tremendous opportunity for sustainable funding of

non-commercial forest management. How important is REDD+

in the context of Rio+20 we will explore in the next edition of

the CFA Newsletter.

John PalmerForest Management Trust,

2724 West Cortez St., Chicago, IL 60622–3419, USA

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Association news

A royal meeting

The annual Commonwealth Day celebrations on March

12th culminated in a Reception at Marlborough House

in London, hosted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

In attendance were the Commonwealth Secretary

General, Mr. Kamalesh Sharma, senior diplomats and represen-

tatives of the Commonwealth’s many associations. Miss Celia Nalwadda attended on our behalf and managed to have a brief

chat with Her Majesty in amongst enjoying the cultural celebra-

tions. Celia is a Ugandan and recent CFA Youth Offi cer who is

currently studying in the UK for her MSc in Land Management

(Natural Resource Management) at Cranfi eld University,

courtesy of the Marshal Papworth scholarship.

A request for members’ information

To assist us in keeping our records up to date we would

be grateful if members would be kind enough to send

us their CVs to cfa@cfa-international.org Don’t worry,

we will keep them safe and sound and will not pass

them on to any third party. Celia arrives at Marlborough House

Stephen Midgley wins ACT Forester of the Year

CFA member, Stephen Midgley, who has developed

successful Australian-Asian forest development

partnerships was announced ACT Forester of the Year

at a World Forestry Day dinner in Canberra. Stephen

runs his own consulting business, Salwood Asia Pacifi c Pty Ltd,

which offers a professional commitment to partnerships

between Asian and Australian forest industries and organisations

through a range of services relating to the commercial

plantation use of Australian trees, forest industries and rural

development.

He had a long and successful career with CSIRO where he

was leader of a major team specialising in the domestication and

utilisation of Australia’s trees, mainly eucalypts and acacias, both

in Australia and in other countries. In his acceptance speech to

the ACT Division, he highlighted the important role that Austra-

lian acacias are playing in the economies of communities in

rural Vietnam and to the lives of people. The employment

offered through acacia-related forestry activities and the return

of $300 million in royalties to acacia smallholders makes a great

deal of difference to rural livelihoods and helps to alleviate

poverty. Australian forestry scientists can be justifi ably proud of

this contribution.

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Calling all photographers

You might have noticed that we have a new-look web-

site at cfa-international.org and we want to use it to

showcase forestry around the Commonwealth. That

means that we would like to invite all members to

send us photos showing forestry in your country – whether it’s

tree planting, natural forests, industrial uses of wood let us

know what is going on in your country. Photos can be sent to

cfa@cfa-international.org and we will post them on our website.

Correction

In the March 2012 issue we published an article entitled Cameroon government cracks down on illegal logging. Since publication a new Director of Forestry, Mr Mfou Mfou Bruno as been appointed to

replace Mr Samuel Ebia. Also the correct name of the Director of the Centre de Promotion du Bois is Jules Paulin Essono.

Forest Scenes

Sustainable forestry at the crossroads in Australia

High conservation value Eucalypt forest in Tasmania

Australian forestry is guided by the National Forest

Policy Statement (1992) and the Plantations for

Australia: The 2020 Vision (1997). These two policy

documents have provided the basis for sustainable

forest management in Australia for the past 20 years. Each of

the main areas of productive native forest was the subject of a

Regional Forest Agreement process in the late 1990s to establish

which areas could be available for timber production and which

areas would be set aside for conservation using a set of scien-

tifi cally based criteria and taking into account public comment.

While the area of native forests available for timber production

was being decreased, governments and industry adopted a

target of trebling the area of plantations to 3 million hectares by

2020.

Recently, the Australian media has carried much coverage

about a new agreement for the management of Tasmania’s

forests, which have been the subject of ongoing campaigns for

further protection of sites of high conservation since the 1980s.

This agreement follows the 2005 Tasmanian Community

Forestry Agreement and the 1997 Tasmanian Regional Forest

Agreement. Following these two agreements 45% of Tasmania’s

native forests (over 1.12 million ha)were reserved. In essence

this new agreement, would add a further 430,000 hectares

to conservation reserves, drop the annual sustainable yield of

sawlogs from 300,000 m3 to 155,000 m3, provide compensation

to forest industry workers and give support for the development

of a plantations-based pulp mill in northern Tasmania. While

this new agreement was lauded by Federal and State political

leaders as ending the long standing confl ict and providing

certainty for Tasmania’s forests and forest industry when it was

released in August 2011, it quickly fell into uncertainty and

counter claims from various parties to the point when in March

2012 various conservation groups and the peak Tasmanian

forest industry group were withdrawing from the process. An

independent verifi cation group recommended 428,000 hectares

be permanently reserved from the ENGO nominated candidate

areas of 572,000 hectares, but this was not adequate for the

conservation groups, including the Greens political party -

which currently holds the balance of power in the Federal

parliament.

While Australian forestry is much more than Tasmania, these

apparently unresolvable issues threaten the basis for long-term

sustainability of the Australian forest industries. Planning for the

development of a new pulp mill in northern Tasmania began

in 2004. Gunns Ltd. propose to build a $2.3 billion elemental

chlorine free pulp mill that could produce up to 1.1ADt of pulp

for domestic and international markets. The pulp mill proposal

was fi nally given Federal government environmental approval

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in March 2011, but as yet the fi nance has not been secured to

commence construction of the mill and opposition to the mill

from environment groups continues. One of the outcomes

from the 2005 Tasmanian Community Forest Agreement was

the development of value-adding veneer mills drawing wood

resources from regrowth forests the products from which had

previously been exported as woodchips. The environment

movement had long campaigned against export woodchipping

in Tasmania so it is quite surprising that in 2012 they mounted

an international campaign to undermine the markets for the

veneer products from these two new mills, in an effort to stop

harvesting of regrowth native forests which they were now

deeming to have high conservation signifi cance. Clearly there

seems to be a long way to go yet before there is a durable,

sustainable and balanced outcome for the Tasmanian forest

sector.

Harvesting mature Radiata pine plantation in the ACT

Unfortunately plantation forestry in Australia is also suffering

diffi culties at present. Under the 2020 Vision about 90,000 hect-

ares of new plantations need to be established annually to reach

the 3 million hectare target by 2020. The mechanism for achiev-

ing this has been private sector investment using the Managed

Investment Scheme (MIS) arrangement, whereby lots of inves-

tors are parcelled together and the plantations are managed by

plantation management companies. With the collapse of two

of the largest MIS arrangements in 2008-09, investment in new

plantations has fallen dramatically with only 23,000 hectares

being established in 2010. Timbercorp had over 120,000

hectares of forestry and horticultural assets managed on behalf

of 18,500 investors while Great Southern managed 179,000

hectares of plantations on behalf of 47,000 investors. With the

liquidation of these two companies, the private investors trees

were all sold to larger investors for “fi re sale” prices and as

a result investor confi dence in this sector has disappeared.

The need for additional investment in plantations is still there if

Australian forest industries are to have a sustainable future and

therefore an overhaul of the MIS policy mechanism is needed.

Forestry Research and Development is languishing in

Australia, as Ric Sinclair pointed out in the March 2012 CFA

Newsletter. Over a 20 year period, the number of forestry

research scientists employed outside the university sector has

fallen by almost 60%, with a big drop in the past three years,

which coincides with big drop in investment in new plantations.

In Australia, most forestry research is funded either via Forest

and Wood Products Australia (funded equally by government

and industry levies) or the Forestry Cooperative Research Centre

(funded by the Federal Government and industry). In Septem-

ber 2011, the Federal Government announced that the bid

for $23 million to support a new $80 million forestry research

program over 5 years had not been successful. When the current

forestry CRC concludes this will mean that annual investment

in forestry research will fall to about $11 million a year for an

industry that contributes $23 billion a year to the Australian

economy (approx 0.7% of GDP). Despite current uncertainties,

forestry in Australia still has a steady need for forestry profes-

sionals, and the ongoing negative media attention doesn’t make

it any easier to attract students to study Forest Science. This

is refl ected to some degree in continued low numbers in our

tertiary institutions, and forest owners having to recruit from

elsewhere to supplement our locally trained foresters.

Closed loop pulp mill, drawing resources from plantations and

recycled paper in NSW

Australian forestry has a long and proud history and over the

years has established policies and systems to achieve sustain-

able forest management that many other countries have viewed

with envy. Yet it now seems that the future of forestry in Austra-

lia is facing a number of very great challenges. There is how-

ever some cause for optimism with the recent publication of the

House of Representatives Standing Committee on Agriculture,

Resources, Fisheries and Forestry report1 “Seeing the Forest

through the Trees” after a lengthy consultative inquiry into the

future of the Australian forest industry. The report examines

some of the issues discussed above and makes 19 recommenda-

tions including some on assessment of wood demand and

supply, the role of wood products in climate change mitigation,

renewal of Regional Forest Agreements, plantation management

incentives and research and development. What remains to be

seen now is how the Australian Government responds to this

inquiry report and whether the various government, industry

and environmental stakeholders can agree on revised policies

and strategies to ensure the sustainable future of Australian for-

estry.

Submitted by CFA members from Australia

1 http://www.aphgov.au/house/committee/arff/forestry/report.

htm

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Electronic Newsletter on Climate Change and Forestry

Are you having trouble keeping up with forest-related

developments in UNFCCC? Are you wondering

what the research community is doing on forests

and climate change? Are you at a loss to fi nd

forest-relevant information among the mass of climate change

information?

If so, you may fi nd CLIM-FO-L to be helpful. This electronic

newsletter is published monthly in English by the FAO Forest

and Climate Change Team. It covers:

• The latest news from the international press from the

UNFCCC negotiations, and related discussions; • Forthcoming events and meetings (the January 2012

issue listed 16 relevant meetings!) • Research articles • A listing of publications, reports and other media

releases

• Jobs

• Announcements

The Newsletter is free of charge. To subscribe, send an e-mail

to: CLIM-FO-Owner@fao.org with the message SUBSCRIBE

CLIM-FO-L but leaving the subject line blank.

Clim-Fo-L welcomes subscribers’ contributions of news,

articles, publications and announcements of events. Once

on the list, you can make a contribution by contacting: clim-

fo-owner@fao.org

While you’re about it, take a look at the FAO Forest and

Climate Change website. It’s regularly updated in three language s

(English, French and Spanish) with news on the latest FAO

forestry and climate change activities. You can also use it to

check for back numbers of the newsletter. See http://www.fao.

org/forestry/climatechange

Jim BallCFA President

Preservation, sustainability, or wise forest management, that is the question

“

Whether ‘tis Nobler in the mind to suffer The

Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune, Or

to take Arms against a Sea of troubles, And by

opposing end them: to die, to sleep No more;

and by a sleep, to say we end The heart-ache, and the thousand

Natural shocks That Flesh is heir to?”

William Shakespeare, of the woodland community around

Stratford on Avon and the all English Oak Globe Theatre.

Or in parlance of today, should we do nothing and suffer

ignorance and criticism or get going and do something about

the state of our woodlands in England or anywhere else in the

world and about governmental and public understanding of

the inadequacies of our woodlands and their real potential.

What inadequacies and what potential have they, anyway?

Inadequacies: Historically, mankind has been dependent on

woodlands to provide fuel, shelter for animals, structure of

buildings, and resources as diverse as paper and medicines.

Useable, valuable wood derives from many tree species for a

multitude of purposes. From the densest of commercially avail-

able wood, such as greenheart, to the lightest, balsa, there are

signifi cant examples of practical use in all periods of recorded

history, and in current use today. From the days of Britain’s

emergence in civilizing communities to the present day, timber,

in so many forms, has played a major role.

However, now, our population of diverse origins, which has

grown up with urban mindset, and less and less appreciation of

natural resources or their practical values, has allowed a careless

attitude to woodland management. Even our rural communities

no longer need to pollard trees or grow coppice for fuel or

obtain curved shapes for roof beams. So much of our natural

woodland is left with the greater majority of trees of strange and

distorted shapes, at best forming natural sculptures. The result

of neglect is inadequate management of many of our forests and

woodlands and neglect to harness their potential to provide

employment and use for either rural or urban communities. So

many woodlands are simply not managed at all, probably with

the excuse that it is “in the interest of wildlife, bugs, bees and

birds,” “bio diversity”, or “preservation.” It is an uncomfortable

truth that our woodlands, with the exception of plantation

woodlands, either owned by us all, through the Forestry

Commission, or other enlightened woodland owners, compared

to those in other European countries, are extremely badly

neglected or managed, with so little purpose or use, except for

shooting pheasants and the like, that they are worse than the

terrifying forest in “Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs.”

What, then is the Potential?: The opportunity we have now to

bring about change of attitudes and action is probably greater

in our global, starkly unbalanced fi nancial straits, than before,

because now is a time for reassessing everything. Unemploy-

ment rising, funding sources limited, young people unsure

of their futures and early retirement or redundancy among

a widely experienced older generation, calls for new ideas

and application of time and effort in areas previously ignored.

Woodlands offer that opportunity with potential rewards.

Where does that change of outlook and action begin?

All forms of appreciation of a need to change emerge among

the younger generation, and the energy to achieve change is

there. Leading the young into areas of opportunity is an

immensely valuable role for an older generation.

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In the case of woodlands, leading the young to understand

the values of trees, woodlands and forests and the products

of them all, can lead on to wise management and consequent

productive values.

If you agree, so far, with this proposition, how do we proceed?

The Forest Education Initiative (www.foresteducation.

org.uk) emerged from educational work by Epping Forest

Centenary Trust (www.efct.info) on woodland or environ-

mental awareness and conservation in Epping Forest, — 8,000

acres of woodland and natural open space on the doorstep of

London, owned by the City of London, as conservators. Thou-

sands of children from local schools, scout groups, children with

learning diffi culties or other disadvantages have gone through

the woodland appreciation stage to undertake conservation

work. All that in areas of neglect, or invasive species, and in

pools, ponds and lakes around the Forest, clearing discarded

household products, fallen trees, weeds which have crept

surreptitiously into the Forest.

From that programme for young people came the idea of a

Forest Education Initiative, (www.foresteducation.org.uk)

which was launched with the considerably assistance of

Dr. David Bellamy in 1992. Now there are over 80 groups or

“clusters” of local environmental and educational organizations

in England, Scotland and Wales getting together, as almost

never before, to see how to work together to bring more young

people into woodlands, -- to learn about everything from team

spirit, wildlife, nature, communication, mathematics, art, and

music, out of the classroom, where the setting is natural, normal,

fascinating, and wholly conducive to learning, so much more so

than in the classroom with their bums on seats.

But Forest Education Initiative (FEI) has gone further, in

adopting and promulgating the Scandinavian idea of “Forest Schools,” fi rst introduced here by Bridgewater College in

Somerset. This concept trains teachers from primary and

secondary schools in the principles and practice of the “Outdoor

Classroom.” FEI contacts the schools, encourages the programme

of Forest School training, now available in eight colleges and

growing, and locates the safe woodland sites for the schools to

use as a base for their normal course work. This leads straight

into woodland appreciation, with opportunity for the FEI

Clusters to add conservation work by school groups to their

programmes, working with families and clubs or local associa-

tions. That, by bringing young people into woodlands for their

own benefi t in doing something thoroughly useful by improving

the management of their local woodlands. The benefi ciaries of

this include the woodland owners, wildlife in the woods, the

teachers and leaders and, above all, those who put their interest

and effort into woodland conservation.

What of the products of our woodlands? Every non planta-

tion forest, or woodland comprises a mixture of species, some

of immediate value, such as our deciduous English oaks,

chestnut, ash, beech, walnut, and other fruit trees, hornbeam,

lime, and sycamore and, of course a wide variety of coniferous

species. Clearly, outlets for all of that are needed so that not only

employment can grow around the conservation work in the

woodlands, but in extraction, conversion and use in building

structures, general carpentry, joinery, fl ooring, furniture, farm

equipment, fencing, works of art, boats, toys, and so on and so

forth. Employment of those who never wanted to or were given

no opportunity to go to university, those who may no longer

have steady employment, and those who have retired from

or become redundant, can turn their minds to these practical

applications locally.

So, another potential is in encouraging the opportunities to

learn Hand Skills for Life, both among the young as it used to

be taught in all schools but also for adults of all ages. Another

role for skilled craftsmen everywhere and for schools and

colleges to bring back into their curricula. – especially now that

schools can decide on ways of broadening the education they

offer. Enough of this revelation of opportunity. Everyone of you

who has read this article this far will know what to do to help

get this Initiative from the opportunity stage to practical applica-

tion wherever you are. Have a go, if you are not already doing

as much or much more already. “Forests are Forever,” and forest

products are the most environmentally appropriate material in

the world for so many uses, with a degree of sustainability that

surpasses all else. Another slogan to keep in mind: “There is No

Timber without Trees.” -- from well managed woodlands and

forests.

Terence MallinsonPresident, The Forest Education Initiative

Chairman, Epping Forest Centenary Trust

The Marcus Wallenberg prize awarded to Finn

The 2012 Marcus Wallenberg Prize, which recognizes a

single research breakthrough by one scientist or a

small group of collaborating scientists that will have a

signifi cant effect on the forestry and forest products

industries, has been awarded to Mr. Mika Severi Viljanmaa, for

his ground-breaking development of metal belt calendering

technology resulting in better paper print surfaces with less fi bre

materials and higher production effi ciency. The invention also

paves the way for applications in pressing and drying with the

opportunity of becoming a wider platform technology expected

to substantially enhance production effi ciency, competitiveness

and sustainability of paper and board making.

The Prize will be presented by His Majesty, The King of

Sweden, at a ceremony in Stockholm on 1 October, 2012. On 2

October, a symposium will be arranged around the subject of

the Prize-winning research and its impact on the forest products

industries. For more information about the Marcus Wallenberg

Prize, please visit www.mwp.org

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News from Guyanato the huge profi ts on log exports to Asia. Where there appears

to be a decline in production of some species, it could be

argued that this is evidence for ‘peak timber’, a decline induced

by decades of selective over-harvesting. But the GFC does

not release data to compare the pre-harvest inventory with the

production records. Piecing together data for the popular hard-

wood purpleheart (Peltogyne venosa), which grows naturally in

clumps, the average stocking in primary forest is 0.5–1.0 m3/ha

out of an average commercial stocking of 100 m3/ha. In contrast,

the proportion of purpleheart in the output is up to 13 per cent,

so perhaps a 25-fold or greater selective over-cutting, as well as

an extraordinary over-representation in the proportion of log

exports, up to 36 per cent by volume.

Again in support of the log export discussions, the GFC

revised and expanded in January 2012 its useful 2006-7 analysis

of relative profi tabilities of different kinds of product. Perhaps

because of the regulatory capture, it did not draw attention to

the profi ts from log export. Building on the GFC analysis, one

can see that the costs and profi ts from preparing timber decking

in Guyana for export are almost the same as the costs and

profi ts of logs exported from Guyana to India, where they can

be turned into value-added products -

Product FOB or CIF Costs

US$/m3

of log

Profi ts

US$/m3

of log

Logs from Guyana to India FOB Guyana 160 90

Logs from Guyana to India CIF India 244 206

Logs from Guyana to China CIF China 220 410

Decking from Guyana FOB Guyana 237 206

Dressed sawnwood from Guyana FOB Guyana 192 122

Rough sawnwood from Guyana FOB Guyana 161 121

The commercial advantage to export logs is clear when the

Government of Guyana fails to use regulation and fi scal

measures to make the implementation of national policies for

in-country timber processing commercially feasible.

Who gains from the present situation? Obviously the log

exporters, although they are lobbying hard for reduction or

elimination of the log export commission (tax). But also and not

obviously the GFC, which has added over US$ 1 million from

this tax to its income per year, and that income is not paid into

the national Treasury.

Janette BulkanCFA Governing Council

In my last report (CFA Newsletter number 56, March 2011,

pages 9-10) I commented on the background to the failed

log export policy which came into effect in January 2009.

Discussions are continuing on a revision of that policy,

with no common ground between enterprises trading logs to

Asia and enterprises processing timber for the domestic market.

In support of the discussions, the Guyana Forestry Commission

(GFC) has conducted more surveys of local demand to show

which timbers appear to be logged in surplus of local demand

and for which timbers there appears to be a defi cit in supply in

relation to demand. The GFC unfortunately fails to make clear

other purposes for a log export policy, which might include:

a. conservation and better management of the rapidly

dwindling stocks of the commercially most desirable

timbers from the natural tropical rainforest.

b. rationalization of local demand, such that government

procurement offi ces do not continue to specify the use

of large sizes of prime timbers for purposes which could

be satisfi ed by smaller dimensions and lesser used spe-

cies. These same offi ces should also pay more attention

to the national building code (1999) which has a whole

chapter on specifi cation of hardwoods. Like many gov-

ernment documents in Guyana, this code is little known

and not easy to obtain. A meeting in September 2011

concluded that the shortage of local lumber alleged

through much of 2011 was really a shortage of the best

quality of the best timbers; there was plenty of smaller

sizes and lesser quality timber.

c. attention to the National Development Strategy (NDS,

1995-7) and National Forest Policy (NFP, 1997, and

supporting National Forest Plan 2001) which promote

in-country processing and value-adding in the forest

sector. There are no national policies – that is, debated

and endorsed by the National Assembly (parliament) –

which support log export. The NFP was slightly revised

in 2011 but the draft revision has not yet been debated

in the National Assembly. The NFP also mentions

the additional employment, skills development and

value addition through in-country processing of forest

products.

d. an explanation of valuation of natural resources and the

right of governments, on behalf of citizens, to capture

as revenue a fair share of the profi ts from exploitation

of these resources. In relation to log exports, this could

include a system for splitting the excess profi ts from

exporting unprocessed logs between the log exporter

and the Treasury.

The reluctance of the GFC to mention these matters appears

to be related to the long period of regulatory capture by log

traders. The World Bank noted as far back as 1993 that the GFC

was a perfect example of the capture theory of regulation,

whereby the regulatory body is controlled by the industry it

is supposed to regulate (Colchester, M. 1997, Guyana: fragile

frontier, page 102, quoting Stabroek News 29 October 1993).

The data sparsely released by the GFC do not provide sup-

port for its conclusion that the log export policy has curtailed

some exports. The export commission (tax) on unprocessed

logs and squared timber is set far too low (a maximum of 12 per

cent of declared FOB value) to infl uence log buyers, in relation

9

Criteria for good REDD+ activities that focus on poverty reduction and development

Tolulope Daramola

Forest carbon projects focusing on conservation and

restoration of degraded lands across a range of devel-

oping countries have helped us to understand how

forest ecosystems can generate both global and local

benefi ts. REDD+ is a mechanism designed to reduce emissions

from deforestation and forest degradation, predominantly in the

developing tropical countries and providing alternative source

of livelihood to leverage the dependency on forest.

The fundamental of the challenges facing the developing

countries can be linked to extreme poverty and hunger.

Although there has been drastic reduction in the global poverty

rate, Africa hasn’t seen much progress in terms of the absolute

numbers of poor people compare to China. See fi g.1 below.

Poverty in Africa is predominantly rural where most of the world

forests are situated. More than 70% of the African poor people

live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for food and liveli-

hood, yet development assistance to agriculture is decreasing

(Rural poverty portal 2012). Agriculture alone accounts for 29%

of the gross domestic product (GDP) in developing countries

and provides jobs for 65% of their populations (CTA 2011). But

yet agriculture has failed to receive the attention it deserves in

the climate change policy arena. REDDplus became a major

focus of recent negotiations but there is no work programme

for agriculture as there is for various other issues under the

UNFCCC (CTA 2011).

Placing a greater emphasis on agriculture in negotiations on

climate change, as in the development of national policies, will

ensure that agriculture fully contributes to efforts to adapt and

mitigate without undermining food production and the fi ght

against poverty (Hailu, and Campbell 2011). REDDplus needs to

be positioned in a way that it does not threaten food security.

Establishing agricultural work program within REDD framework

activity would put agriculture at the heart of climate change

negotiations and policy making, ensuring that it makes a full

contribution to both adaptation and mitigation without threaten-

ing food production and poverty alleviation.

To ensure sustainability and risk reduction for investors and

buyers, REDD must be design in a way that will work for the

poor (PEP 2008). The local communities have the right to be

fully involved in the project implementation and understand

fully the economic benefi ts of project implementation. In addi-

tion, not undermining their right of fare equity in benefi t sharing

accruing from REDD project. Lack of upfront capital to pre-fund

REDD project could impair REDD from meeting the local needs.

Depending on whom bears the costs for meeting standards and

covering upfront costs, these factor could signifi cantly reduce

the potential of REDD to benefi t the poor. To overcome these

issues, alternative fi nancing sources to cover upfront costs will

need to be explored at different levels.

Num

ber

of p

oor

peop

le (

mil

lion

)

1100

1000

900

800

700

600

500

400

300

2001981 1984 1987 1990 1993 1996 1999 2002 2005

East Asia

South Asia

Sub SaharanAfrica

FIGURE 1 The World Bank poverty estimates 2009

The community involvement and transparency is an imperative

factor for the success of REDD project. REDD should be found-

ed on Free, Prior and Informed Consent, designed in active

participation with affected local communities, and conserve

biodiversity (FEI 2011). The report of the Friends of the Earth

International in 2011 faulted the fi rst big REDD project in

‘Central Kalimantan area of Indonesia’1. The project was

reported to have violated the right of the indigenous people.

Similar story was recently voiced by the Indigenous Peoples

Confederation of Honduras (CONPAH) in a strong statement

about the lack of consultation related to REDD+ by the Hondu-

ras government, and calling for the withdrawal of the draft

REDD Readiness it submitted to the Forest Carbon Partnership

Facility.

1 The Kalimantan Forests and Climate Partnership (KFCP) is a

bilateral forests and climate agreement between the Govern-

ments of Indonesia and Australia, that was fi rst announced in

2007. It is intended to produce carbon offsets by reducing

emissions from deforestation and land degradation.

10

Publications

Forest Peoples: Numbers across the worldForest Peoples Programme

By providing estimated fi gures for

indigenous and forest peoples’

populations in countries and

regions across the globe, this new

Forest Peoples Programme report seeks to

raise awareness of the existence of peoples

who primarily depend on forests for their

livelihoods, and to enhance their visibility as

key actors and rights-holders in the manage-

ment and use of forests and forest resources.

These fi gures may serve as a useful reference

in advocacy for the recognition of forest

peoples’ legal and human rights. The report

can be downloaded free of charge at www.

forestpeoples.org/

The potential of REDD project in alleviating poverty and

contributing to a sustainable development can be attributed to

an approach designed on a transparency and equity principles.

Though there are still many pilot REDDplus project in the

pipeline, signifi cant efforts have already been invested in REDD

at the national and international level (CIFOR 2010). To imple-

ment REDD successfully, similar attention now needs to be

given to how to translate REDD into action on the ground that

would signifi cantly affect the lives of the local communities in a

positive way. REDD offers a critical opportunity to enhance the

well being of forest dependent communities, it is more likely to

be successful if they are build on, rather than confl ict with, the

interests of local communities and indigenous groups (CIFOR

2010).

Tolulope M. DaramolaCFA Governing Council and Global Change Management,

Faculty of Forest and Environmental Management. Eberswalde

University for Sustainable Development, Eberswalde, Germany.

Email: t.daramola@yahoo.com

REFERENCES

CGIAR - Farming’s climate-smart future. 2011. Placing agriculture at the heart of climate change policy http://ccafs.cgiar.org/sites/default/fi les/assets/docs/farmings_climate-smart_future.pdf.

CIFOR. REDD, forest governance and rural livelihoods - The emerging agenda. http://ccafs.cgiar.org/sites/default/fi les/pdf/REDD_Wollenberg_2010.pdf

Climate Connections http://climate-connections.org/2012/02/28/hon-duras-world-bank-redd-project-not-consulting-indigenous-peoples/.

Friends of the Earth International. 2011. Australia’s carbon offset project in central Kalimantan. http://www.foei.org/en/resources/publications/pdfs/2011/in-the-redd-australias-carbon-offset-project-in-central-kalimantan.

German NGO forum on environment and development (2011): policy paper on REDDplus. Limiting climate change, promoting biodiver-sity, protecting human rights, ensuring fi nancing http://unfccc.int/files/methods_science/redd/submissions/application/pdf/redd_20120602_german-ngo-forum.pdf.

PESKETT, L., HUBERMAN, D., BOWEN-JONES, E., EDWARDS, G. AND J. BROWN (2008): Poverty Environment Partnership (PEP) Report (2008): Making REDD work for the Poor. http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/docs/3451.pdf.

Rural poverty in Africa portal http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org/web/guest/region/home/tags/africa.

11

Teak resources and market assessment 2010FAO

FAO has just published a new Work-

ing Paper on the state of one of the

world’s most valuable timber trees –

teak (Tectona grandis). It covers not

only the countries where the species occurs

naturally, India, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand,

but also the many countries in Africa, Central

and South America and Asia where it is being

planted. Sadly, the survey of 60 tropical

countries shows that natural teak forest area,

which is about 29 million ha, is declining, by

385,000 ha or 1.3% between 1992 and 2010,

but the area of planted teak has increased to

over 4 million ha, mainly through projects of

the corporate and private sectors.

The global market for teak timber is

governed by trends in the Asian market,

where 90% o the existing stock is found, and

in particular by India which not only man-

ages much of the reseource but is the world’s

largest importer.

Available to download free of charge at

www.fao.org/forestry/plantedforests/67508@

170537/en/

Review

There is honey in the forest: the history of forestry in South Africa. 2010 (2nd edition). Compiled by Willem Olivier.

Published by the Southern African Institute of Forestry,

saif@mweb.co.za No price stated.

Uganda Diary: the life of a forester in the years before Amin. 2011. James Lang Brown. Radiata Books. Available from

the author at Wheelwrights Cottage, Bruton, Somerset BA10 0JL

at £14.95 including post and packing in UK, or contact the

author at info@jameslangbrown.co.uk

The title of Willem Olivier’s book on the history of

forestry in South Africa comes from the Zulu saying

Zinoju ehlathini, meaning that there are good things

(“honey”) to be found in the forest. And, my good-

ness, there are plenty of good things to be found in this fact-

fi lled account of South Africa’s pioneering contributions to the

creation, conservation and utilisation of forest resources in a

harsh environment! It is diffi cult in this short review to do justice

to the book, covering more than 300 years of forest management

in indigenous forest and planted forests, which has been pub-

lished by the Southern African Institute of Forestry to acknowl-

edge the work of the nation’s foresters - nearly all men, and

mostly white – who have contributed to the protection and

conservation of 336,000 ha of indigenous forest and the estab-

lishment of 1,266,000 ha of plantations. Today that resource

produces over 11 million cubic metres of softwood and nine

million cubic metres of hardwood timber yearly, worth Rand

5.2 billion to the growers and R18.5 billion to the primary

processors, while forest industry employs 170,000 people. This

compares with Uganda, for example, with nearly 3 million ha of

forest from which are produced nearly 3.5 million cubic metres

of industrial roundwood (plus 38.5 million cubic metres of wood

fuel), or neighbouring Mozambique with 39 million ha of forest,

producing 1.3 million cubic metres of industrial roundwood.

The book starts with descriptions of the foresters and the

forests from the fi rst arrivals of Europeans around 1670, and

there is an interesting account of a forester’s life around 1910;

W. E. Baldwyn not only suffered repeated attacks of malaria as

well as dysentery but lost his dog to a crocodile, his mule

was “disembowelled” by a hippo and he himself suffered from

depression due to these occurrences as well as the drought,

intense heat, snakes in his house and his isolated station. Not in

fact so different from some of the experiences of James Lang

Brown, described in the next book reviewed!

South Africa made important contributions to scientifi c

forestry in a number of ways. One of them, which benefi ted the

whole African continent, was the introduction of exotic trees

such as the eucalypts (the fi rst was Eucalyptus globulus in 1828),

wattle (Acacia mearnsii from 1864), and a number of pines –

Pinus pinaster and P. pinea may have arrived at the end of the

17th century, with the fi rst commercial plantations of the former

between 1825 and 1830. P. radiata had followed by 1865, and

the Mexican pines such as P. patula, in the early years of the

20th century. These exotic introductions in turn have led since

the 1950s to tree improvement programmes, in which South

Africa has been a world leader.

Another major contribution, of global importance, was the

insight provided by Henry Fourcade in 1889 into the importance

of matching local conditions for introduced species to sites

similar to their native habitat. But Fourcade failed to distinguish

between Mediterranean climates with winter rainfall and those

12

in which most of the rain falls in the warmer months; this

was left to D.E. Hutchins fourteen years later, who forecast

(correctly) that many of the species from winter rainfall

provenances “must sooner or later fail”.

Plantation establishment and management is described in

some detail, especially the work of Ian Craib who published

Thinning, pruning and management studies on the main exotic

conifers grown in South Africa in 1939, which advocated wide

spacing and broke completely with European practice at the

time. A description of Craib’s life in the book describes him as

possessing “a rare combination of talents . . .a keen analytical

brain [with] the necessary organizing ability to get his ideas

accepted and put into practice. . .” His research determined

post-war establishment practices in East Africa and infl uenced

planting practices elsewhere as well.

The work done in South Africa on run-off and stream fl ow

from afforested watersheds has also been applied outside the

Republic. As the book tersely states: “South Africa is a country

poorly supplied with water” having an average yearly rainfall of

440 mm, less than 10% of which reaches the rivers. Research

into the infl uence of timber plantations on run-off was started

following the Empire (now Commonwealth) Forestry Confer-

ence of 1935, was carried out through intensive work at a

dedicated research station, and ultimately led in 1972 to the

introduction by the Government of a system of regulation of

afforestation.

A chapter is devoted to private forest industry, including the

establishment of the wattle growers’ cooperative, the South

African Pulp & Paper Industries (SAPPI) in 1936, Usutu Forests

in 1949, and Mondi Forests (now York) in 1966. Other chapters

are devoted to sawmills, timber farmers’ cooperatives, tertiary

education, forest research, protection from fi re and attacks from

insects and disease, as well as public relations. The last-named

records that as late as 1960 private individuals had to apply for

a permit to enter public forests and it was not until the 1970s

that the policy changed and the forest service became more

welcoming to taxpayers.

The book tells of a number of international contacts through-

out the history of South African forestry: for example, seed

collection trips to Australia for the eucalypts in 1923, to Mexico

in 1947 and 1969 for pines, wattle, timber/pulp properties.

The benefi ts arising from the exchange of information

among foresters at the Empire (later Commonwealth) Forestry

Conferences is stressed. But international sanctions against the

apartheid regime much reduced these contacts, until Nelson

Mandela was elected in 1994 as the fi rst President of South

Africa on a vote of all South Africans. I myself recall attending a

meeting at the University of Stellenbosch not long after this, and

witnessing at fi rst hand the hunger of South African foresters to

renew their international contacts.

In 1992 the Government sold forest plantations to the South

African Forestry Company, one of the largest privatisations of

State forests in the world at that time. Then in 1994 the new

Government introduced forest policies covering Land Reform

(including the rights of labour tenants to property), and Labour

Relations in 1996, followed by the National Forests Act and

the National Water Act in 1998, which controversially identifi ed

forestry as the only stream reduction activity!

An Annex describes some of the signifi cant events in the

country’s forestry sector, including the impact of HIV/AIDS on

forestry workers, whose infection ranged from 23% to 39% in

2002, and reminded me of the arrival of the Sirex wood wasp

from the Mediterranean, fi rst detected in Cape Town in 1994,

and of the disastrous fi res of 2007, which destroyed some 84,000

ha of plantations. All these events are more fully described in

the text.

A slightly disconcerting feature of the book is the inclusion

of a few chapters and boxes in Afrikaans – denying the informa-

tion therein to those, like myself, without knowledge of the

language. Perhaps more could have been made of the role of

South Africa in privatising its plantations and in offering training

to foresters from other African countries, and more of the post-

1994 impact of majority rule. But those niggles aside, I strongly

recommend its purchase to the libraries of every forest service

and forest research institute in Africa, as well as to all foresters

with an interest in African forestry.

For those of us who served in Uganda before 1971 and the

bloody dictatorship of Idi Amin, the title of James Lang Brown’s

book brings it all back: the golden age of a Forest Department

whose esprit de corps and dedicated staff at that time put many

other forest services, even in the developed world, to shame.

The demarcation of forest reserves in Uganda started in the

1930s and continued after the War in the 1950s when inventory

of many of the valuable forests was followed by the allocation

of concessions for logging and the plantation programme got

into its stride. Among the author’s varied duties were forest

reservation in Karamoja, the enumeration of natural forest in a

number of Districts and, less pleasantly, dealing with encroach-

ers in the Mabira forest of Mengo District – the same forest that

has recently been threatened with conversion into a sugar

estate. The author used took full advantage of the opportunities

offered by his various postings to make a number of safaris to

places – especially the mountains – that were in those days little

developed.

I myself served in Uganda, indeed I was District Forest

Offi cer of the combined charge of Ankole and Kigezi Districts

where the author also served on his fi nal assignment, so I found

the references to people and places that I knew most interesting.

I could carp and say that there is little analysis of the issues,

save some comments on political developments leading up to

independence, and none on technical issues or practices. For

example, regarding the latter, what did the author think, in

retrospect, of the policy of poisoning “weed” trees in natural

forest, and the impact of this on the diversity of fauna and fl ora?

But then, what you see is what you get – these are diaries, no

more and no less, which record day to day events, without the

benefi t of hindsight.

His book is full of accounts of the foresters – and many

other characters - who plied their profession in Uganda in the

1950s and early 1960s, and provides invaluable background

to the history of pre-Independence Uganda. It is easy to read

and is illustrated with numerous excellent colour photographs.

I recommend it strongly to anyone with an interest in Uganda

and its forests.

Jim BallCFA President

13

Around the World

UK: ICF announces important fi lms on catastrophic plant disease

The ICF National Conference was used as a launch pad

for two important fi lms intended to combat the threat

to Britain’s woodlands posed by two devastating

Phytophthora pathogens, Phytophthora ramorum and

Phytophthora kernoviae. The fi lms, which come in short and

long versions, provide vital information and advice on how to

prevent the spread of the pathogens.

The shorter fi lm is aimed at people with a less intimate

knowledge of plant diseases and is likely to appeal to younger

age groups or those involved in social media; while the longer

fi lm is more detailed and intended for professionals working in

areas at risk of infection by the disease.

The fi lms can be viewed online via the following links:

Short fi lm: http://theoryfi lms.wistia.com/m/D34dfm

Long fi lm: http://theoryfi lms.wistia.com/m/8P4dgm

The release of the fi lms was announced to delegates at the

ICF National Conference by ICF Executive Director Shireen

Chambers FICFor at 11am on Wednesday 16 June. Speaking to

a packed conference hall, Shireen said: “We would strongly urge

you to do what you can to draw people’s attention to these

fi lms. They will be of huge help in reaching those members

of the public who use and care about our woodlands but are

unaware of this potentially catastrophic pathogen.”

The fi lms have been produced as part of the Defra/Forestry

Commission Tree Health and Plant Biosecurity Action Plan and

the Defra Phytophthora ramorum and Phytophthora kernoviae

Disease management Programme. Production was led by the

Food & Environment Research Agency (Fera) and has involved

a broad-based consortium from both within and outside of

Government circles.

charteredforesters.org

Africa: Extinct trees rediscovered in Tanzania

Uganda ‘tree banks’ offer investors good returns

Two trees, both thought to be extinct until they were

discovered some years ago, were then lost – and

rediscovered recently in dry forest on the Tanzania

coast, according to the UK Guardian newspaper of

23rd March 2012 and originally reported in the Journal of East

African Natural History.

The fi rst is Erythrina schliebenii, which is in the same genus

as the well-known Uganda Coral (E. abyssinica) and has the

same spectacular bright red fl owers and spiny trunk. It was

originally collected in the 1930s and was collected again in 2001

– but then the patch of forest in which it was found was cleared

in 2008 and it was feared lost.

The second is Karomia gigas, which was known only from

a single specimen found in 1977 in coastal Kenya – but which

was cut down shortly after its discovery. Another tree was then

found 600 km south in Tanzania in 1993, but a later search failed

to locate it.

Last year an expedition from the University of Dar es Salaam

found small populations of both species in rocky sites in remote

coastal forest near Kilwa, in south-east Tanzania. Although both

trees are secure for the moment, there is considerable pressure

on land in the vicinity and they may still be under threat.

Jim BallCFA President

For Peter Nyeko, a Ugandan businessman always on the

lookout for the next hot investment, nothing in the

world beats the humble tree. Five years ago, he and

two partners put their money into planting a stand of

eucalyptus outside Kampala, which he calls his “tree bank.”

Now, he said, he’s just waiting for the money to start rolling in.

“A tree bank’s pretty much the best kind of investment you

can put out there,” Nyeko said. “You could invest $50,000 and

in 10 years you’re harvesting trees worth fi ve million dollars. As

long as you’re willing to wait for about 10 years for a return on

your capital employed, it’s pretty amazing. It’s just like a trust

fund.”

Nyeko isn’t alone. More and more Ugandans are discovering

the fi nancial value of tree plantations, thanks to a government

and international donors eager to promote planting in a country

whose natural forests are disappearing fast. The phenomenon

has attracted some controversy but that hasn’t stopped hundreds

of private investors from jumping on board. They are very

14

interested. We are doing what we can to make them more

interested”, said Gonza Araali of Uganda’s National Forestry

Authority. “We are telling them it’s an investment, it’s an insur-

ance. It’s where they can get income and be able to sustain

themselves, and also pay school fees for their children.”

What makes trees so profi table is Uganda’s growing demand

for timber and timber products. Over 95 % of Uganda’s popula-

tion of 33 million depend on fi rewood or charcoal made from

wood for cooking, according to the German development

agency GIZ. The country’s booming construction industry has

also helped make timber an increasingly valuable commodity.

Supply isn’t keeping up. The Kampala-based Sawlog

Production Grant Scheme (SPGS) says Uganda has virtually no

mature tree plantations left, and that the sector is in serious need

of investment. Without enough cultivated tree plantations, most

Ugandans turn to natural forests for their timber. Some 40 % of

Uganda’s forests have vanished over the past 20 years, and the

National Environment Management Authority has warned that if

deforestation continues at the present pace, the country could

have no natural forests left at all by 2050.

There are other environmental factors for potential investors

to consider. Nyeko said that when he made his investment, he

had one eye on the carbon trading markets. Right now it isn’t

possible in Uganda for individual planters to claim carbon cred-

its for trapping CO2, but Nyeko thinks that could soon change.

“That would open up another revenue stream as well,” he

said.

According to Nelly Bedijo of SPGS, a nonprofi t funded by

the European Union, tree plantations have the potential to make

a lasting impact on the Ugandan economy. Not only will planta-

tions create thousands of jobs, she said, but “there are going to

be numerous timber processing industries that will invest in

Uganda — we’ll be seeing a lot of sawmills, and with time

maybe we shall even have paper processing plants.”

“Maybe we shall even stop importing timber from other

countries,” she added, noting that at the moment Uganda buys

some of its wood from neighboring Congo. A local newspaper,

The Independent, reported that the country imported around

$5.5 million worth of timber in 2011.

SPGS promotes tree plantations by awarding grants that

cover half the cost of planting. In order to qualify, candidates,

who come from all walks of life, must own at least 25 hectares

of land. It’s a requirement designed to discourage all but the

most serious planters.

Bedijo estimated that at the moment, such planters can still

only be counted in the hundreds. But she said SPGS, founded

in 2004, will have helped to plant a total of 40,000 hectares of

trees by next year, three quarters planted since 2009. Burgeon-

ing interest in the program, she said, outstrips their capacity.

“It’s growing so much, and it’s getting a lot of attention. We

are receiving a number of applications — it’s overwhelming,”

she said.

Tree planting advocates are quick to point to ways in which

plantations can benefi t local communities as well as wealthy

investors. SPGS, for instance, provides free planting advice and

seedlings to poorer villagers who don’t have much land, as long

as they can form an association of at least 20 people. So far, the

organization has helped over 130 such groups plant trees. The

wood produced is used by communities for fuel, fencing and

construction, and SPGS says the skills people learn can later

help them fi nd work with large-scale growers.

Araali said even if they don’t grow trees themselves, the

communities living around tree plantations benefi t in a number

of ways. “We employ them in slashing, in clearing, in protection

of those forests from fi res. We have bore holes, they access

water freely. We allow them to put their bee hives in our forest

reserves.”

But others say tree plantations actually come at a signifi cant

social cost. Last year stories circulated in Uganda of violent land

grabbing, after international relief agency Oxfam released a

report claiming that the UK-based New Forests Company had

evicted tens of thousands of people from their land in order to

make way for tree plantations.

“Today, the people evicted from the land are desperate,

having been driven into poverty and landlessness. In some

instances they say they were subjected to violence and their

property, crops, and livestock destroyed,” the report stated.

The New Forests Company said those evicted were illegally

encroaching upon the land, but it was nonetheless forced

to suspend tree planting after its World Bank funding was

withdrawn.

Nor is everyone convinced all tree plantations are good

for the environment, especially since most of the trees are

fast-growing imported varieties like eucalyptus, pine and teak.

“You need to really be careful about which tree you

introduce”, said Abby Onencan of Nile Basin Discourse, an

environmental organization based in Entebbe, Uganda.

“A lot has been said about the eucalyptus. There are some

breeds which are really bad, they really cause a lot of destruc-

tion and should not be planted near the water. If we plant trees

around the Nile that take up the water, then the water might

never reach Egypt,” Onencan said.

But Araali argued that when planted responsibly, even the

much-maligned eucalyptus can have a positive impact on the

environment. “They grow very fast. People are able to get timber

out of them, and the rate at which they would have gone to the

natural forest to cut trees reduces”, he said. “They also help in

conservation, which people are not seeing.”

For his part, Peter Nyeko is convinced that his trees and the

wood they provide will benefi t Uganda. “The more people that

get involved now, the better, because the population is rising,

demand is shooting up, and we just don’t have enough timber

growing to sustain our demand,” he said.

But Nyeko’s primary motivation for planting is still very

personal. “I thought, I can’t afford to put together a trust fund

right now, so why not set up a tree bank?

“In 10 or 20 years you will have enough return on capital

employed to sustain a family. It would be nice for our kids to

have as good a childhood as we have had,” he said.

marketwatch.com

15

Bhutan: Less than half 10th Plan target achieved

Shortage of manpower and budget have led to achieving

only 1.5 percent of the forest in the country as commu-

nity forest against the target of four percent in the 10th

Plan for the RNR sector.

Community forests are government-reserved forests, where

a minimum of three households is required to form a group.

Each household/group member is allowed to access forest

products within 2.5 hectares of the forest area.

Being a member means the households can access forest-

based products like timber on a nominal amount decided among

the members.

Most dzongkhags, said forest offi cials, have established more

CFs than their target, but are still not able to meet their tenth

plan goal. Zhemgang, for example, has 17 CFs against their

target of eight.

These issues came up during the two-day dzongkhag

forestry workshop in Thimphu, which was attended by 20

dzongkhag forest offi cers (DFO).

Social forestry and extension division’s (SFED) offi cer Karma

Jigme Temphel said there are about 150 forestry offi cials across

the country today, when they require at least a DFO for every

dzongkhag, and an offi cer at the gewog level.

Trashiyangtse DFO Phuntsho Tobgay said four gewogs in

the dzongkhag have no forest offi cials. “Because of the shortage,

a gewog offi cer has to handle multiple tasks, and more than one

gewog, which not only confuses them but delays actions to be

taken,” he said.

He also said eco-tourism areas are given more attention,

while area outside protected land and people living in them do

not get attention, even though they have the potential.

kuenselonline.com

Canada: Forest industry says boreal protection goals still on radar

Canadian forest product companies admit they are not

going as fast as they had hoped in fulfi lling a historic

May 2010 agreement to protect the nation’s boreal

forest. “It’s a complex agreement but we’re making

progress,” said Mark Hubert, vice president of environmental

leadership at the Forest Products Association of Canada. “Do

we wish we were moving faster? Absolutely, but . . . there’s an

extraordinary amount of work going on by both parties to make

sure that we get to the fi nish line, so to speak.”

Hubert made the comments in response to claims from some

environmental groups involved in the Canadian Boreal Forest

Agreement that 80 per cent of the goals established in the deal

to protect forests and species at risk still have not been

achieved.

Eighteen different member companies in the association are

part of the deal to protect about 29 million hectares of forest

from logging by 2013 in exchange for the suspension of “do not

buy” campaigns led by Greenpeace, ForestEthics and Canopy.

The deal also calls for aboriginal treaty rights and traditional

territories to be respected. But a status report by the three envi-

ronmental groups found that 58 out of 75 goals in the deal had

not been met, while only 10 were delivered on schedule.

“Everyone had good intentions two years ago, but this

update is a wake up call that we have a collective responsibility

to deliver on the promises of boreal forest protection and

improved forest practices within a meaningful time frame,” said

Greenpeace spokeswoman Stephanie Goodwin. “Companies

that are buying boreal forest products are reasonable in

demanding products from forests that are well-managed and

protected.”

Another conservation group — a chapter of the Canadian

Parks and Wilderness Society — voiced optimism about the

months ahead, suggesting that the criticism was more a strategy

to maintain pressure on the industry to deliver its commitments.

“They (Greenpeace, Forest Ethics and Canopy) operate as

watchdog groups and that’s their role,” said Janet Sumner,

executive director of the CPAWS Wildlands League, a chapter of

the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. “Our role is to be

the conservation group that understands science, knows how

you do conservation planning, walks the land with the forestry

companies, meets with the First Nations, builds agreements

across communities and goes into government and sells the

plan.”

Comparing the exercise to a 12-step process, Sumner

suggested that all of the parties were now in “step 10,” but that

they are in a race to complete their goals. “To make the plan be

able to stand on its own two feet you actually have to take it out

and test drive it with the various people who are going to

live with that plan,” she said. “There are communities, there are

decision makers like First Nations, and there are governments at

play.”

Canada.com

16

China: New Shanxi forest fends off sandstorms

North China’s Shanxi province has tamed about

1 million hectares of desert in the past 12 years to

help reduce and fend off sandstorms hitting Beijing

and its neighboring regions, according to local

authorities.

The desert in northern Shanxi is one of the three major

source of sandstorms that can affect Beijing and Tianjin. Work

since 2000 has formed a forest shelter belt running 230 km east

to west, reducing risks of desert encroachment and also block-

ing sandstorms from further north, said Zhang Yunlong, chief

planner of the Shanxi provincial forestry department.

The desertifi cation, which was caused by poor farming

and overgrazing practices, has been signifi cantly alleviated,

according to Zhang. “A decade on, we have created a miracle in

planting trees on a loess plateau area where drought and gusts

severely hinder growth,” said Fu Cunxin, head of the county

publicity department in Youyu.

Trees on the hard-grown silty loess require replanting at

least three times before they can survive, Fu explained. “Though

the afforestation program has made great achievements, there

is still a long way to go,” warned Zhang, adding that another

1.1 million hectares of desert is to be tamed in the second phase

of the project.

Shanxi is among fi ve provincial-level administrative regions

in north China, also including Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and Inner

Mongolia, that have made joint efforts in reducing and blocking

sandstorms.

China is one of world’s major victims of desertifi cation, with

the phenomenon affecting more than 27 percent of the total

land area and threatening the livelihoods of 400 million

people.

peopledaily.com.cn

Europe: The Story of REDD

A new animation about reducing emissions from defor-

estation and forest degradation (REDD) was launched

at the annual meeting of the Forest Movement

Europe in Portugal, 28 April 2012. Wolfgang

Kuhlmann of ARA, one of seven NGOs that supported the fi lm,

explained that “[the] fi lm attempts to explain the key issues in

a simple-to-understand way . . . global deforestation cannot

be solved without addressing the over-consumption that drives

deforestation.”

UN climate talks have included forests since 2008, but real

progress has yet to be made; the animation explains that this

lack of progress can partly be blamed on an incorrect focus.

With the next round of UN climate talks starting in Bonn,

Germany, on 14 May 2012, the fi lm serves as a timely reminder

to European governments that committing to addressing

the drivers of deforestation in the EU is a critical fi rst step to

reducing forest loss.

The fi lm, which can be viewed at www.fern.org/storyo-

fREDD, was produced by FERN and is also available in French

and Spanish.

Fern.org

Fiji: FSC to certify chips

TROPIK Wood Limited will soon have its woodchips to

Japan certifi ed as an environmentally-friendly prod-

uct. Speaking to landowners earlier this week, Tropik

Wood Ltd chief executive offi cer Faiz Khan revealed

that Fiji’s woodchips would have to be certifi ed by the Forest

Stewardship Council. He said this was because Japanese buyers

had indicated they would only buy FSC-certifi ed woodchips

from the beginning of next year.

According to the FSC website, the certifi cation is a voluntary

market-based tool that supports responsible forest management

worldwide. FSC-certifi ed forest products are verifi ed from the

forest of origin through the supply chain. The FSC label ensures

that the forest products used are from responsibly harvested and

verifi ed sources or companies. One of the principles or criteria

that forest companies have to meet is the maintenance or

enhancement of long-term social and economic wellbeing of

forest workers and local communities and respect of workers’

rights in compliance with International Labour Organisation

conventions.

The companies also have to appropriate monitoring and

assessment activities to assess the condition of the forest, man-

agement activities and their social and environmental impacts.

Mr Khan said obtaining the FSC certifi cation would cost them

$0.5million. He also advised the landowners on the need to

reduce harvest over the next few years.

Mr Khan said although they could load ship 16 woodchip

vessels from Viti Levu for export, it would not be appropriate

because they needed to focus more on its sustainability.

fi jitimes.com

17

Brazil: The battle for Brazil’s rainforest

A new bill in Brazil seeks to relax the rules governing

forest preservation in the Amazon.

The new forestry bill is a victory for Brazil’s

agricultural lobbies. An economic boom fuelled by

high commodity prices has boosted their political infl uence.

They argue that existing laws are too strict - classifying the

majority of farms as illegal and their owners, criminals.

Large parts of the Amazon forest destroyed in past decades

have become productive farmland. Soy farms, for example, have

helped make Brazil the world’s second-biggest producer.

Many in President Dilma Rousseff’s Workers Party back

environmental causes but others want to further exploit Brazil’s

vast natural resources to speed up growth. Rousseff’s govern-

ment backs new dams, roads and mines in the Amazon.

The parliamentary vote however is being seen as a setback

for the government. Offi cials close to the president say she is

considering a veto of parts of the forestry bill.

Brazil established its forest code in 1936 and the current

version has been on the books since 1965.

In less than two months the country will host a UN environ-

mental conference to mark the 20th anniversary of the Earth

Summit of 1992. Environmental groups say the forest bill will

speed up deforestation in a country with the world’s largest

rainforest.

So, are Brazil’s actions setting a worrying environmental

precedent? Will Rousseff try to preserve her environmental

credentials by vetoing the forestry bill, or will she cave in to the

powerful agricultural lobbies?

Joining the discussion on Inside Story Americas with pre-

senter Shihab Rattansi are guests: Andrew Miller, an advocacy

coordinator for Amazon Watch; Joao Augusto de Castro Neves,

a Latin America analyst at Eurasia Group focusing on Brazil;

and Mark London, a fi lmmaker and author who has extensively

documented the changes in the Amazon region.

Key provisions in Brazil’s forestry bill:

• Allows smaller farmers to cultivate land close to hilltops

and streams, which are more vulnerable to erosion

• Waives fi nes for illegal tree-clearing before 2008 but

larger landholders will still have to replant cleared areas

or preserve a similar size of land somewhere else

• Authorises the state and local governments to determine

how much area should be preserved as standing forest

aljazeera.com

India: How to arrest forest degradation

Native forests are under threat across India. Regional

studies in the country’s biodiversity hot spots and

other regions of conservation signifi cance including

the Himalayas, Eastern and Western Ghats, and

central India, point to large-scale clearing and degradation of

native forests. Thus, it is surprising to note that the biannual

India State of Forest Reports have reported a steady increase in

the country’s forest cover since 1997.

The recently-released 2011 report is the fi rst in almost 15

years that points to a reversal in this trend. Is this correct? Were

previous reports of a steady increase in forest cover reliable?

Can such analyses be improved upon, given India’s premier

global position in satellite remote-sensing technology?

It may help to fi rst examine some of the diffi culties with

verifying reports of deforestation from this report. Take, for

instance, Andhra Pradesh, which reports a loss of 281 sq km

of forest. While the report attributes this decline mainly to

the planned harvest of mature tree plantations, others have

attributed this clearing to timber poaching.

In the north-east, Manipur has lost 190 sq km of forest area.

The report attributes this largely to shifting cultivation, while

many foresters and researchers working in the north-east point

to the impact of large-scale, organised timber poaching.

While the exact factors remain unknown, the variety of

explanations offered point to a larger problem with the manner

in which the report is generated and presented, making it diffi -

cult to relate trends in forest cover to interpretations of causes

of change. The fi rst challenge is the substantial time lag between

the collection of data and publication of these reports. Thus,

the Indian State of Forest Report released in 2012 is based on

satellite images collected between October 2008 and March

2009.

The three-year time lag makes it diffi cult to check the

accuracy of data, and makes it even more challenging to assign

clear-cut causes for decline. In contrast, in the Brazilian

Amazon, where remoteness and the density of forest cover

make it even more challenging to conduct forest assessments,

the space agency INPE is able to provide information on forest

change at a 25-hectare scale, every two weeks (apart from the

monsoon season, when cloud cover obscures satellite imagery).

This is the timescale that is needed to combat deforestation as it

occurs.

The lack of separation between plantations and native

forests adds another source of confusion. India has the second-

largest area of land under plantations globally, which provide

services of carbon storage, but do not provide anywhere near

the same levels of biodiversity or ecosystem services that a

native forest does.

Although it is critically important to discriminate between

native forests and plantations, the two are merged in the State

of Forest reports. Agricultural crops like orange, rubber, coco-

nut, tea and coffee plantations are also often confused with

forests. Then, the satellite images used for the reports have a

pixel size of 23 m, and a spatial ability to discriminate details at

a scale of about a hectare.

indiatimes.com

18

Global: 1.3 billion people rely on forests to survive

Hands off our forest! The UN has adopted a series of

voluntary guidelines to protect indigenous peoples’

rights to the land on which they live. And not

before time, as a recent report suggests hundreds of

millions could be evicted by modern-day land grabs.

Many indigenous peoples have lived in the same place for

centuries, but they do not have legal tenure. Forest peoples,

who live in the rainforests of South America, Africa and south-

east Asia, are particularly vulnerable. Their forests are often sold

or leased to companies or foreign countries for farming, logging

or mining. The local people are usually evicted.

The sheer scale of the problem is highlighted in a report

from the Forest Peoples Programme in the UK (see p10 for

more details on this publicaiton). The FPP estimates that roughly

1.3 billion people – more than one-seventh of the global

population – are directly dependent on forests.

At least 350 million could lose their homes in land grabs,

says Sophie Chao of the FPP, because their rights to the land are

not recognised under national law.

Many of the forests that people occupy are state property

and can be sold or leased without consulting the inhabitants.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s guidelines

encourage governments to recognise and protect indigenous

peoples’ rights to their land. FAO director general José Graziano

da Silva calls the agreement a “historic breakthrough”.

NewScientist.com

Indonesia: Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) announces new policies on high conservation value forest

Asia Pulp & Paper Group (APP) has announced its new

High Conservation Value Forest policies to evolve

APP’s business, including the immediate suspension

of natural forest clearance on its own pulpwood

plantations in Indonesia. Over the past decade, APP has built

and implemented a broad-ranging sustainability strategy to pre-

serve critical aspects of Indonesia’s precious natural resources,

high conservation areas and biodiversity.

Now, in what the Group calls the ‘next natural evolution’ of

its sustainability strategy, APP is announcing a move to adopt

the internationally- recognized standards for High Conservation

Value Forest (HCVF).

The HCVF policies will be implemented immediately in the

following way:

1. With respect to APP owned concessions in Indonesia:

a. Effective from 1st June 2012, we will suspend natural

forest clearance while HCVF assessments are

conducted.

b. We have engaged credible experts to conduct HCVF

assessments, in accordance with HCV Resource

Network best practice. The assessments will be

based on a multi-stakeholder approach.

c. We will protect all identifi ed HCVF areas as a result

of the HCVF assessments.

2. With respect to APP’s independent pulpwood suppliers

in Indonesia:

a. Given our fi rm commitments on HCVF, APP expects

independent suppliers to comply with our request

for HCVF assessments, by 31 December 2014.

b. With an international NGO partner, we will engage

with our independent suppliers to adopt HCVF

assessments.

c. We will review and reevaluate supply agreements

where HCVF assessments are not conducted.

APP’s Managing Director of Sustainability, Aida Greenbury,

said:

“Effective immediately, we are embarking on a bold program

to ensure we can offer our customers products with the highest

environmental and social integrity, and to ensure delivery of a

shared vision for the global community. We are taking account

of critical issues raised in our dialogue with NGOs. It is the aim

of APP’s policy to exclude HCVF from the supply chain.”

Regarding APP’s future expansion, Ms Greenbury said: “As a

business we are always assessing the markets for opportunities.

We will ensure that our Natural Forest Policy will apply to all of

our current mill operations and any future expansion.”

“We are confi dent in our ability to embed these policies in

our business, but we also acknowledge that success will require

the engagement of many stakeholders,” said Robin Mailoa, CEO

of Sinar Mas Forestry. “High conservation value forest (HCVF)

management is a protocol that stretches beyond our own

concessions and needs to be embraced and supported by

members of local communities, government, civil societies and

by everyone that touches the pulpwood production process.”

marketwatch.com

19

Global land deal guidelines could pave way to world without hunger

The endorsement of voluntary guidelines to improve

the way countries govern access rights to land, fi sher-

ies and forest resources by the Committee on World

Food Security (CFS) on Friday marks a historic

milestone not only for the way in which land tenure is managed,

but also for international consensus-building.

The eradication of hunger depends in large measure on how

people, communities and others have access to, and manage,

land, fi sheries and forests. Pressure on these resources, and on

tenure arrangements, is increasing as new areas are cultivated

to provide food for a rapidly growing population, urban areas

expand, and as a result of environmental degradation, climate

change and confl ict. Rural landlessness is often the best predic-

tor of poverty and hunger. Moreover, insecure tenure rights can

lead to instability and confl ict when competing users fi ght for

control of these resources.

Weak governance of tenure hinders economic growth and

the sustainable use of the environment. Small-scale farmers and

traditional communities will not invest in improving their land,

fi sheries and forests if they could be taken away at any minute

due to lack of recognition of customary rights, weak registration

practices or corruption. In some countries, women, for example,

despite doing all the farming, are denied legal recognition and

protection of rights to their land plots.

The voluntary guidelines on the responsible governance of

tenure of land, fi sheries and forests in the context of national

food security set foundations that are indispensable to resolve

these issues. Responsible governance of tenure enables sustain-

able social, economic and environmental development that

can help eradicate food insecurity and poverty, and encourages

responsible investment.

The guidelines cover a wide range of issues, including

promoting equal rights for women in securing access to land,

creating transparent record-keeping systems that are accessible

to the rural poor, and helping with recognising and protecting

informal and customary rights to land, forests and fi sheries.

They provide a framework that governments can use when

developing their own policies and give investors and developers

clear indications of what constitutes acceptable practice.

The guidelines are the result of a three-year inclusive

process of consultation that was initially driven by the Food and

Agriculture Organisationn (FAO). During this government, civil

society, the private sector and academics assessed a range

of issues and actions. Approximately 1,000 people from more

than 130 countries participated in the 15 consultations held

worldwide in conjunction with a global electronic conference.

The process moved on to the CFS, the inclusive interna-

tional and intergovernmental platform dealing with food secu-

rity and nutrition, under whose auspices the fi nal negotiations

were carried out. The negotiations involved nearly 100 national

governments, NGOs, civil society, farmers’ associations, private-

sector representatives and research institutions.

This participatory, dynamic CFS-led dialogue was crucial to

achieving consensus among disparate, sometimes confl icting

interests, on a sensitive topic involving – among other issues –

striking the right balance between attracting needed investment

in agriculture and safeguarding the rights, livelihoods and

wellbeing of traditional communities, indigenous people and

small-scale producers.

The challenge now is for countries to adapt these guidelines

to national conditions and needs before implementing them.

This is an effort in which every stakeholder that participated in

the consultation processes has a role to play, to transform these

guidelines into national policies and concrete improvements in

the lives of people worldwide.

The FAO stands ready to assist countries in areas such as

institutional capacity development, advocacy, technical support

and legal advice. The FAO will use the guidelines as the baseline

for our partnerships, and we call on all our current and potential

partners to endorse them.

Hunger eradication is a complex challenge. Only by work-

ing together can we make progress. Agreement on the guide-

lines shows that effective, concrete co-operation on sensitive

issues central to food security and economic development

is possible, offering cause for optimism as we address other

challenges on the path to a world free from hunger.

It is our collective duty – governments and NGOs, civil

society and the private sector – to ensure that the process

of constructive collaboration bears fruit by promoting tenure

governance consistent with 21st-century needs and equitable

access to the precious resources on which the world’s food

security depends.

And while work on the guidelines now moves to countries,

our next global challenge is to establish principles for

responsible agricultural investment. A substantial increase in

investment, which has fallen precipitously in recent decades,

is needed in developing countries. These principles will help

assure that investments serve the needs of all stakeholders and

enhance rather than compromise food security.

The same dialogue and collaborative process that under-

pinned the guidelines should inform discussions about agricul-

tural investments and other challenges related to food security

and rural development. The CFS is uniquely positioned to

support this process, providing a forum in which different

stakeholders can debate and reach the consensus the world

needs.

Step by step, we are laying the groundwork for a food-

secure world.

guardian.co.uk

20

Kenya: Kibaki faces the harsh reality of tree felling

President Kibaki yesterday came face to face with reali-

ties of deforestation while presiding over the launch

of national tree planting season in Kitui county. The

President, who visited the Green Africa Foundation

Research at Isaangwa village on the outskirts of Kitui town was

taken through shocking statistics on tree felling and logging

which unless reversed could render conservation efforts

nugatory.

The President was informed by the Green Africa Foundation

chairman Dr Isaac Kalua that the country’s tree cover was

depleting at an incredible rate of a whooping 5.6 million trees

daily through charcoal burning, timber harvesting and fi rewood

for schools. Kalua told the President that all the country’s

primary and secondary schools are depending on fi re wood and

that the current conservation efforts are not enough to replenish

what is being lost daily.

Kalua, who conducted the President on a tour of the

research centre, otherwise known as the Green Village, said a

more serious environmental policy that focus more on tree

growing other than planting is needed if Kenya is to achieve the

10 per cent forest cover. “We must use all means to entice

Kenyans to join hands in planting trees to save this country from

the adverse effects of climate change,” Kalua told the President’s

entourage that included VP Kalonzo Musyoka and ministers

Noah Wekesa (Forest and Wildlife), Kaluki Ngilu (Water) and

Eugene Wamalwa ( Justice). Kalua said concerted efforts should

be put in place to replenish the tree cover in Kitui county which

provides the bulk of charcoal used in Nairobi. He said the area

has witnessed wanton destruction of trees through charcoal

burning in recent years leading to reduced rainfall.

Addressing a public rally after presiding over the launch of

the national tree planting campaign, the President urged each

Kenyan to dedicate at least 10 per cent of their farms to planting

trees to achieve the elusive goal of increasing the country’s for-

est cover. “Kenyans must be recruited into a new green culture

to increase tree cover in all corners of the country by educating

them which trees grow where and what they need to grow for

commercial purposes,” he said.

This year’s campaign dubbed Towards attaining 10 per cent

national tree cover: Ni wajibu wa Kila Mkenya is aimed at

getting Kenyans through sustained public awareness to plant at

least 5 million trees countrywide in the course of next week

alone. “The theme is signifi cant because it captures our aspira-

tions as country to live in peace and be self reliant. This is only

possible if we all join hands towards this crucial task” the head

of state said at Kitui High School grounds.

He directed the Kenya Forestry Service to crackdown on

what he described as “reckless and unlawful” felling of trees

across the country saying tree planting efforts will go to waste

if existing ones are not protected. Wekesa said it is important for

all Kenyans to plant trees numbering their years to make the

whole country evenly afforested in a bid to restore our forest

cover. Wamalwa said the constitution demands that all Kenyan

reserve 10 percent of their plots of land to tree planting.

allafrica.com

Thailand: Nine agencies ink MOU on deforestation

Nine agencies have signed a Memorandum of Under-

standing (MOU) on deforestation to mutually coun-

ter the recurring problem. Deputy Prime Minister

and Minister of Interior Yongyuth Wichaidit, on

Wednesday, presided over the signing of an MOU on forest

conservation and deforestation suppression among nine

agencies, including the Interior Ministry, the Agriculture and

Cooperatives Ministry, the Natural Resources and Environment

Ministry, the Defense Ministry, the Royal Thai Armed Forces, the

Royal Thai Army, the Royal Thai Navy, the Royal Thai Air Force

and the Royal Thai Police.

Mr. Yongyuth stated that Their Majesties the King and Queen

have expressed the desire to see the Thai forests protected from

the ongoing deforestation. Thus, it is essential that all agencies

collaborate in protecting the forests and suppress deforestation

in order to fully revive the environment.

Meanwhile, Interior Permanent Secretary Pranai Suwannarat

said that deforestation for business and agricultural purposes

is a chronic problem, which is the main cause of natural

disasters and global warming. With its existing regional and

local networks nationwide, the Ministry of Interior hopes that

the collaboration with other agencies will yield a more effi cient

outcome in preventing the problem of deforestation.

pattayamail.com